I don't know how else to put this
It's taken me so long to do this
I'm falling asleep and I can't see straight
My muscles feel like a melee
My body's curled in a U-shape
I put on my best but I'm still afraid

Propped up by lies and promises
Saving my place as life forgets
Maybe its time I saw the world

I'm only here for a while
But patience is not my style
And I'm so tired that I gotta go

What am I supposed to hide now?
What am I suppose to do?
Did you really think I wouldn't see this through

Tell me I should stick around for you
Tell me I could have it all
I'm still too tired to care and I gotta go

Zzyzx RoadStone Sour
Come What(ever) May

As of April 1st, 2016,the first entry in my Gold & Steel fantasy series, As Fierce as Steel, is on sale. Visit www.thegoldandsteelsaga.com for more!

I've got no destination
No place to call my own
I'll explore the constellations
Till I find the course I mean to hone
But come fever or come famine
Come the biting winter cold
Just put two coins upon my eyelids
So I can pay the poor man's toll

I've always been dark
With light somewhere in the distance

I've been so unforgiving
Stranded in old traditions

I've always been dark
With light somewhere in the distance

Two CoinsCity and Colour
The Hurry and the Harm

As of April 1st, 2016,the first entry in my Gold & Steel fantasy series, As Fierce as Steel, is on sale. Visit www.thegoldandsteelsaga.com for more!

This one came up during Assassin's Creed: Rogue and it got stuck in my head. I went digging about to find the history of it. As with all the songs they use, it dates from the time the game takes place, which in this case was the Revolutionary Wars. In more present times it seems the most well known singer of it was a 60's folk singer named Karen Dalton, who was a favourite of Bob Dylan's, but little known outside of that. She faded away into obscurity and was among the many victims of the aids epidemic of the 80's, passing away in 1993 of the illness. Her version is quite haunting and is suited to her unusual voice, but the game version is not without its merits either. Either way, the lyrics are haunting in their own right:

When I fist came to town
They call me the roving jewel
Now they've change their tune
They call me Katie Cruel

Oh that I was where I would be,
Then I would be where I am not,
Here I am where I must be
Go where I would, J can not

Through the woods I go
And through the bodgs and mire
Straight way down the road
and to my heart's desire

When I fist came to town
They brought me the bottles plenty
Now they've changed their tune
they bring me the bottles empty

As of April 1st, 2016,the first entry in my Gold & Steel fantasy series, As Fierce as Steel, is on sale. Visit www.thegoldandsteelsaga.com for more!

Dallas Green is the modern day Neil Young. There is no doubt, the man is a song writing/performing dynamo.

I recall
The time when you and I would talk a little more
To each other face to face, through love and war
Well I hope there will always be an open door for me
But I know, that home is just some place I always leave behind
It's with me everywhere I go and I close my eyes
I know someday I'll catch you in the by and by, I know
I know

Dear mother
I know I have been away for far too long
Dear mother
Hope you understand me when you hear this song
Cause you taught how to be right in a world of wrong
Gone wrong

But it ain't
Ain't how long you live, it's how you live your life
Burn bright until the grave don't shy away from the light
Cause I won't waste my days
I will use my time
My time, my time

Open DoorYou+Me
Rose Ave.

As of April 1st, 2016,the first entry in my Gold & Steel fantasy series, As Fierce as Steel, is on sale. Visit www.thegoldandsteelsaga.com for more!

Waking up is harder than it seems
Wandering through these empty rooms of dusty books and quiet dreams.
Pictures on the mantle, speak your name, softly like forgotten tunes, just outside the sound of pain.
Weren't we like a pair of thieves, with tumbled locks and broken codes
You can not take that from me, my small reprieves, your heart of gold
Weren't we like a battlefield, locked inside a holy war
You're lovin' my due diligence
The only thing worth fighting for

Change will come to those who have no fear
But I'm not her, and you never were the kind who kept a rulebook near
What I said was never, what I meant
And now you've seen my world in flames my shadow songs, my deep regret
Weren't we like a pair of thieves, with tumbled locks and broken codes
You can not take that from me, my small reprieves, your heart of gold
Weren't we like a battlefield, locked inside a holy war
You're lovin' my due diligence
The only thing worth fighting for
The only thing worth fighting for

This song came to mind after the Supreme Court's decision to legalise gay marriage nationwide in the U.S came to pass. The up-beat, energising, happy beat and ironic lyrics are a decade old, but I found that last week and a month ago in Ireland this song has stood out to me as an appropriate anthem for the recent international victories for the LGBTQ community.

The pornography made me do it
So those drugs that got us high
Was the thoughts of revolution
They've been poisoning my mind
So I'm walking down to the water
You keep coming up for air
All those people, they don't give a damn
They just stood around and stare
And I say,

Love will save the day

Come on sell me more of your religion
'cause it's sure to make a change
Last night god was on the TV screen
Taking dollars for their pain
Come on talk about that evolution
It's been poisoning my mind
I've been looking for a saviour
I've been waiting for a sign
And I said,

Love will save the day

Love will save the dayDavid Usher
If God Had Curves

As of April 1st, 2016,the first entry in my Gold & Steel fantasy series, As Fierce as Steel, is on sale. Visit www.thegoldandsteelsaga.com for more!

Still in the afterglow of the City and Colour concert. This was among their setlist:

I fear I'm dying from complications, complications due to things that I've left undone
That all my debts will be left unpaid, feel like a cripple without a cane
I'm like a jack of all trades who's a master of none

Then there's my father he's always looking on the bright side
Saying things like “Son, life just ain't that hard”
He is the grand optimist, I am the world's poor pessimist
You give him burdensome times and he will escape unscarred

I guess I take after my mother, I guess I take after my mother

The Grand OptimistCity & Colour
Little Hell

As of April 1st, 2016,the first entry in my Gold & Steel fantasy series, As Fierce as Steel, is on sale. Visit www.thegoldandsteelsaga.com for more!

You taught me the courage of stars before you left.
How light carries on endlessly, even after death.
With shortness of breath, you explained the infinite.
How rare and beautiful it is to even exist.

I couldn’t help but ask
For you to say it all again.
I tried to write it down
But I could never find a pen.
I’d give anything to hear
You say it one more time,
That the universe was made
Just to be seen by my eyes.

SaturnSleeping at Last
Atlas

This song has just been dominating my playlist as of late.

As of April 1st, 2016,the first entry in my Gold & Steel fantasy series, As Fierce as Steel, is on sale. Visit www.thegoldandsteelsaga.com for more!

Here by my side, you are destruction
Here by my side, a new colour to paint the world
Never turn your back on it
Never turn your back on it, again
Here by my side, it's Heaven

Careful, be careful
Careful, be careful
This is where the world drops off
Where the world drops off
Careful, be careful
You breathe in and you breathe out
For it ain't so weird
How it makes you a weapon

WeaponMatthew Good
Avalanche

Been listening to a lot of Matthew Good (in both band and solo form) lately. Felt compelled to share these lyrics. Fuckin' powerful.

As of April 1st, 2016,the first entry in my Gold & Steel fantasy series, As Fierce as Steel, is on sale. Visit www.thegoldandsteelsaga.com for more!

I left your house this morning
About a quarter after nine
Could have been the Willie Nelson
Could have been the wine
When I left your house this morning
It was a little after nine
It was in Bobcaygeon, I saw the constellations
Reveal themselves one star at a time

BobcaygeonThe Tragically Hip
Phantom Power

As of April 1st, 2016,the first entry in my Gold & Steel fantasy series, As Fierce as Steel, is on sale. Visit www.thegoldandsteelsaga.com for more!

Should've stayed, were there signs, I ignored?
Can I help you, not to hurt, anymore?
We saw brilliance, when the world, was asleep
There are things that we can have, but can't keep

If they say
Who cares if one more light goes out
In the sky of a million stars
It flickers, flickers
Who cares when someone's time runs out
If a moment is all we are
Or quicker, quicker
Who cares if one more light goes out
Well I do

The reminders, pull the floor from your feet
In the kitchen, one more chair than you need, oh
And you're angry, and you should be, it's not fair
Just 'cause you can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there

If they say
Who cares if one more light goes out
In the sky of a million stars
It flickers, flickers
Who cares when someone's time runs out
If a moment is all we are
Or quicker, quicker
Who cares if one more light goes out
Well I do

Who cares if one more light goes out
In the sky of a million stars
It flickers, flickers
Who cares when someone's time runs out
If a moment is all we are
Or quicker, quicker
Who cares if one more light goes out
Well I do
Well I do

One More LightLinkin Park
One More Light

As of April 1st, 2016,the first entry in my Gold & Steel fantasy series, As Fierce as Steel, is on sale. Visit www.thegoldandsteelsaga.com for more!